Abstract:

First-line managers (FLM, also known as 'supervisors' or 'foremen') have been an important group in industry organizations. Supervisory work was studied widely from 1940' to 1970's but after that the interest in it diminished. Some even thought that FLMs would vanish all together due to new organizational forms and changing leadership and management styles. However, FLMs didn't vanish and empirical observations show that they are still important.

This study examines the managerial work in the logistics of a Finnish food and beverage industry organization. The research was conducted as ethnography. The data collection was done by shadowing the FLMs at their work, interviewing them and other relevant parties in the organization.

The data was analyzed with Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Using ANT guided us to pay attention to non-human actors on top of the human actors. The non-human actors consisted of for example machines, systems, mechanisms, files, rules and the physical structure of the logistics. Through the ANT analysis we discovered that FLMs work in a very complex environment. They use lots of different tools in their job. These tools included IT-systems, mechanical machines, computer programs and software files. A key part of FLM work is the identification of subordinates and the ability to utilize their potential in goal attainment.

The study concluded that the core of the supervisory work still lies in the management of operational work. The FLMs at the logistics are responsible that the customer deliveries are correct and ready in time, FLMs are also responsible for the upkeep of the warehouse and keeping the production lines filled with correct packages. FLMs fulfill these tasks by using different IT-systems, programs, machines, software files and so on. A major part of the FLM work is conducted on the production floor. There they managed, supervised and planned the work of their subordinates. These decisions were influenced by different categorizations of organizational justice. The justice of the decisions was considered important by the FLMs.